--- title: Bill O'Reilly: Slaves Who Built White House Were ‘Well-Fed’ description: Bill O'Reilly said slaves who built the White House "were well-fed and had decent lodgings” in response to Michelle Obama’s DNC speech. canonical: https://time.com/4426003/bill-oreilly-slaves-white-house-michelle-obama/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-27T14:20:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:57:15.376Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bill O'Reilly Says Slaves Who Built White House Were ‘Well-Fed’ og:description: He said they also "had decent lodgings provided by the government” og:url: https://time.com/4426003/bill-oreilly-slaves-white-house-michelle-obama/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte01b87f1f5be8c4d/69889fa80a4a2210cd9caa93/bill-oreilly-slaves-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: The Hollywood Reporter's 5th Annual 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bill O'Reilly Says Slaves Who Built White House Were ‘Well-Fed’ twitter:description: He said they also "had decent lodgings provided by the government” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte01b87f1f5be8c4d/69889fa80a4a2210cd9caa93/bill-oreilly-slaves-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bill O'Reilly Says Slaves Who Built White House Were 'Well-Fed' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jul 27, 2016 2:20 PM UTC  Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly attends The Hollywood Reporter's 5th Annual 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media on April 6, 2016 in New York City. Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly attends The Hollywood Reporter's 5th Annual 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media on April 6, 2016 in New York City. Dimitrios Kambouris—2016 Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jul 27, 2016 2:20 PM UTC Bill O’Reilly on Tuesday [said slaves who built the White House](http://www.billoreilly.com/b/Countering-Donald-Trump/-114604975694952421.html) “were well-fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government” in response to First Lady Michelle Obama’s Democratic National Convention [speech](http://time.com/4421538/democratic-convention-michelle-obama-transcript/). The Fox News commentator and host of _The O’Reilly Factor_ said on his show that the First Lady was “essentially correct” Monday when she said that she wakes up “every morning in a house that was built by slaves.” “Slaves did participate in the construction of the white house,” O’Reilly said, along with “free blacks, whites and immigrants.” “Slaves that worked there were well-fed and had decent lodgings, provided by the government, which stopped hiring slave labor in 1802,” the host added, “so Michelle Obama is essentially correct in citing slaves as builders of the White House, but there were others working as well.” [According to historical records](http://time.com/4423691/michelle-obama-dnc-speech-history/), slaves helped to dig the White House’s foundation, among other tasks, and also worked inside the early White House. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4426003/bill-oreilly-slaves-white-house-michelle-obama/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4426003/bill-oreilly-slaves-white-house-michelle-obama/"},"headline":"Bill O'Reilly Says Slaves Who Built White House Were 'Well-Fed'","datePublished":"2016-07-27T14:20:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:57:15.376Z","description":"He said they also \"had decent lodgings provided by the government”","url":"https://time.com/4426003/bill-oreilly-slaves-white-house-michelle-obama/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte01b87f1f5be8c4d/69889fa80a4a2210cd9caa93/bill-oreilly-slaves-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte01b87f1f5be8c4d/69889fa80a4a2210cd9caa93/bill-oreilly-slaves-white-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Hollywood Reporter's 5th Annual 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media - Arrivals","caption":"Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly attends The Hollywood Reporter's 5th Annual 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media on April 6, 2016 in New York City.","creditText":"Dimitrios Kambouris—2016 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4426003/bill-oreilly-slaves-white-house-michelle-obama/","name":"Bill O'Reilly Says Slaves Who Built White House Were 'Well-Fed'"}}]}] ```